Dreams of Control
by ColaDrinkingCats
Summary: A message of a threat reaches the Jade Palace only a couple of weeks after Gongmen, and the warriors must travel again. At the same time, Po gets weirder and weirder dreams during night. Does it have a connection? What will these dreams to him? What is this threat and what does it want? [Tigress x Po, Viper x Crane] [Disclaimer; We Own Nothing, see profile]
1. Prolouge: A Rude Awakening

_**Dreams of Control**_ _  
Prolouge: A rude awakening_

Cola Drinking Cats

 _ **Hello There! Welcome to our new story, Dreams of Control! This is actually a small experiement of me and a friend of mine, Colan, to join an fanfiction account and write together! We hope you'll enjoy, and if you have any questions to either of us, Just ask for Neko or Colan.  
Enjoy!**_

 _There was a howling in his ears, caused by the wind that shocked him awake. The next thing that hit him was the cold. He tried to open his eyes, but they felt so heavy that it was almost impossible. But he forced himself to do it, groaning while doing so._

" _It's like 4 in the morning! Who opened the window…?" he said, obviously annoyed. It had been a week since he came home, and his body still hurt from the injuries. He had two weeks to relax but someone still awoke him! Who would even wake him up so early in the morning?_

 _He sighed and turned his body toward the noise that came from where his window usually is._

" _Hello?" He asked out to the person who woke him up. But he got no answer. He didn't even feel anyone's presence._

' _That's weird...' He thought to himself as he rubbed his eyes and opened them to their full extent only to find that he wasn't in his bed at all. He looked around and stood up, confused. Under his feet he saw gravel and dirt mixed with small pieces of grass. He turned his attention to all the trees who surrounded him. He was in a forest._

" _Wha.." his surprised mutter was cut off by the ground shaking underneath him. He wobbled, but he didn't fall._

" _ **Do not fret. I do not want you to worry. Please return to your sleeping."**_

He looked around searching for the owner of the voice. But the only things he saw was the trees surrounding him. He turned his vision upward toward the sky, but that was covered with the crown of the surrounding trees.

" _Who are you? Show yourself!" He shouted, got into a fighting stance. This caused his wounds to hurt, but he did not let that faze him. .The wind howled again as the crooked branches and all the leaves started to swing and wave in the wind._

" _ **I can not show myself, I'm sorry."**_ _The mysterious voice spoke again._

The warrior narrowed his eyes as he looked around him for any sign of movement. But he couldn't find any.

" _Then at least tell me who you are!" he shouted out into the forest filled to the brim with trees. Nothing could get through there, not even a speck of dust. So how could he even hear a voice at all? The more he was in this place, the more confused and annoyed he got. He was tired, he was in pain because of his injuries, and he had no idea how he got here or who he was talking too. And the entity wouldn't even give him any answers. What was the meaning of this?_

" _ **I have to go soon, let us not waste time on matters that you will find out later."**_

" _Liar! I see no reason to why you can not!" He shouted out again, more angry this time. He was losing his patience with this entity, and he was losing it fast._

" _ **I'm sorry, but I can not help you with that. You will find out sooner or later. What you should be asking is 'Where this is going?', but your mind does not seem… developed enough... to ask such and complicated and advanced question."**_

" _Did you just insult me!?" The warrior asked, getting more and more agitated. He lowered his guard slightly and turned his head around. This was confusing him. It seemed to have better hiding techniques then-_

" _ **I did not, but it is easy to make it seem like I did."**_ _The voice cut his thoughts off, it sounded darker than what it had before._

" _ **I am just someone who wants to… help you. And myself. But to get help, you need to sleep. So rest dear warrior, for I have to leave."**_

 _The warrior readied himself once more, staring out into the forest, growling slightly. He did not like this one bit, it seemed too… weird. How had he ended up in the forest anyways?_

" _Oh no you're not!" he shouted, louder this time than the last couple of times. "Come out!" His eyes were scanning the tree line as he turned around, always expecting the entity to stand behind him._

The wind howled again, stronger this time, ripping leaves and branches away from their tree hosts.

" _ **I am really sorry."**_

 _And then the world around him was ripped apart._

 ** _Oh, isn't this gonna be fun... Well, we'll see what happens, eh? On to Chapter 1!_**

 **/Neko**


	2. Chapter 1: A Long Night

_**Dreams of Control**_ _  
Chapter One; A long Night_

Cola Drinking Cats

 _ **Hello reader(s)! I am Colan, the second writer of this story! I hope that you will enjoy this chapter as much as we loved making it!**_

 _ **See you in the reviews! :3**_

Po woke up with a shock, cold sweat covering his body. It was hard to see in the dark room.

Freaked out he stalked over to the kitchen, making sure not to make any sound… Which he failed at. At least he didn't wake up any of the five.

Po searched in the drawers but the only thing he saw was veggies and uncooked noodles. In another drawer he found Tigress' tofu supply. There were five blocks of Tofu in there. He thought the stuff was disgusting and would never understand how Tigress could eat it every day.

Then he remembered, Monkeys cookie supply! He made sure he closed the doors before he attempted to climb up to the highest shelf were the cookie jar sat. Being careful not to break any of the wooden drawers and cupboards he started to carefully climb them. He placed a paw on a small drawer that was partly opened and prayed to Oogways dead ghost that it would not break. His prayers was answered as the drawer miraculously held his weight. After a long time of trying to be careful Po finally made it to the cookie jar and opened the lid. He reached in just to find that there were only crumbles in the cookie jar.

"Aw, man!" He groaned and slapped a hand over his mouth. He looked over to the door, waiting for someone to come in and scream at him to go to bed. But it never happened. Breathing out he jumped down from the drawers and landed safely on his feet. He made his way out of the kitchen, and out of the living quarters.

He walked slowly across the yard, only to stop to gaze at the natural beauty of the mountains surrounding the valley. He smiled and took a deep breath, only to exhale loudly. The fresh night air was cold, but refreshing in a most delightful way. He continued and made his way to the giant peach tree where he spent his first night at the jade palace. He remember stuffing his face with peaches when Oogway approached him. Oogway taught him something valuable. Something that changed Po's life. And for that he is forever grateful to Master Oogway.

Finally Po arrived to the tree. His slow walk turned into a jog as he hurried to sit beneath the tree. The peaches were fresh. A lot were on the ground, but Po didn't really care. A little dirt has never harmed anybody. He quickly began to stuff peaches into his mouth, not caring about any kind of table manners that he had been taught. He was alone after all.

"What were you trying to do in the kitchen?"

"Ghah! ghai gheess!" Po tried to explain with all the peaches in his mouth intact, but failed horribly, dropping all of the peaches which was in his mouth. Deja vú.

"I thought you knew that Monkey were out of cookies after you ate them the day we got home." Tigress said, her arms crossed and leaning against the tree. She were watching him in the corner of her eyes, not letting him out of her sights. Po wiped his mouth on his arm and paw quickly.

"Uhh… I thought that.. maybe he had gotten new ones..?" Po said nervously, fiddling with his fingers as he looked around for a new peach.

"Uh-huh…" Tigress said slowly, only a little bit annoyed at Po's typical behaviour.

"Promise to not tell Monkey..?" Po asked, cringing slightly. Tigress sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I won't tell Monkey." She said, and Po let out a sigh of relief.

"I won't tell him immediately, that is."

Po froze completely and stared at her in terror. If Monkey would be told.. Dear lord, he had to start packing today.

Then to his relief and shock, Tigress did something very unlike her.

"Just kidding."

Po's entire thought process broke down. Did she just… make a joke…? He blinked once, twice, trice.. repeating the conversation in his head. Yep. 100% true, Tigress had made a joke.

"Wait-wait-wait-wait-WAIT! Did you just… Erm…" Po started, realizing that he may not live through the night.

Tigress raised an eyebrow at him.

"I just...?" She asked questioningly, eying the panda.

"Uhh… Joke?" Po said weakly. His entire head was breaking down.

Tigress sighed and rolled her eyes again.

"Yes, even though it seems like I have no humor at all, I actually do." She watched him closely, surveying every move the panda did. She noticed that he was acting a little oddly, but quickly dismissed it as him just being tired.

Po only blinked, still empty of understanding, making Tigress groan as she facepalmed.

"Anyways, now the real question. Why are you up?" She asked, leaning against the tree once again. Po looked at Tigress who was still watching him intently. He didn't want to tell her about the dream. It seemed kinda personal. Private. But yet… No, not really. Plus, he couldn't really tell her about the dream, she'd think he was crazy. So Po settled on a believable excuse.

"Oh? Yeah, I was hungry." Po said, avoiding Tigress' stare.

Tigress narrowed her eyes and never let her eyes steer away from him. She was not convinced. She went up to Po, who still avoided her glare, and turned his face so he looked at her.

"You know I don't believe that." She said plainly.

Po was trying everything to avoid her stare. If he looked her in the eyes and said it, she would notice him lying immediately.

"What are you talking about? I just wanted food and there wasn't any in the kitchen, soo… I went out here..." Po said as calmly as he could muster. Tigress didn't even blink.

"Po…" She said slowly, she knew he was hiding something now. It was in the way he looked around when he talked, when he moved… Yes, something was behind those words.

"I swear that I was just hungry!" Po said again, shrugging lightly.

Tigress kept her eyes at the panda who didn't say another word.

She sighed and gave up as she started to walk away.

"But.. What are you doing up then?" Po asked, eying Tigress.

"Sometimes I go out at night to get some fresh air and to Meditate." She answered, still not stopping her walk.

"Wait, Tigress!" Po cried out "do you want to Meditate then?"

Tigress stopped in her tracks.

"You? Meditate?" Tigress stopped walking and looked back at Po, giving him a "Are you serious" face. "If you can be quiet and actually Meditate... maybe. I prefer being alone when meditating though." She said as she continued to walk away.

"Please?" Po pleaded. Tigress sighed and started walking back.

"Fine, But I want silence. Understood?" She said as she began to sit down beside the panda. Po only nodded.

Tigress sat down besides Po and went into a meditation pose, putting her hands calmly on her knees. Po observed and tried to do the same. It took awhile before he could get his legs in the right position, but he eventually got the pose right. He proceeded to put his hands calmly on his knees as well and closed his eyes to try his best to meditate. He didn't know why he even asked Tigress if they could do this because he found meditation boring. He didn't even know how to meditate. Po opened his eyes and drew his hands closer together. Then he started to fidget with his fingers.

"What are you doing Po?" Tigress asked, her eyes closed. There were clear annoyance in her voice.

"I'm meditating…?" Po answered nervously and went back to his meditating stance.

Tigress sighed, but she didn't open her eyes.

5 minutes passed. But for Po it felt like hours passed. He was so bored, but he couldn't ditch Tigress now, especially since it was **him** that asked Tigress to meditate with him! But what was he supposed to do? He couldn't just sit there doing nothing!

He opened one eye and looked around for something. He found some gravel, some grass and some… peaches! There were one just an arm's reach away! If he only could get to it without alerting Tigress…

He opened his other eye and kept it still on Tigress as he reached for the peach. But he didn't feel the peach in his palm so he had to avert his eyes to fully focus on the peach.  
"Po, you don't have to meditate if you do not want to…" Tigress spoke, her eyes still closed.  
Po froze and looked at her. She hadn't moved an inch. It was kind of creepy.

"Uh…" Po said. He didn't know how to reply. It was him who had asked her to meditate with him after all, so then why would he quit after so little time?

"Po, if you can't be still and quiet…" Tigress spoke, her voice coated with irritation. Her brow had started to furrow.

"I can be still…!" Po proclaimed.

"No you can't." She said in a calm but very agitated voice.

"I swear I can! One more chance!" Po pleaded, looking at her with his mouth in a pout.

Tigress sighed deeply.

"Fine, one more chance. If you fail again and think I won't notice it, I'll kick you off the mountain." She threatened. Po gulped.

"Yestigress!" Po said quickly and within milliseconds, he was in a perfect meditation pose and sat still as a rock.

' _This is going to be a long night.'_ Po thought.

-{~^^~}-

It was a long night. He sat for hours there, as still as he could be. He just figured that he would think about everything prior to him being chosen as the Dragon Warrior. He came up with that his life, well, his Childhood, had been very… boring. Noneventful. And then when he had been chosen, Everything happened. Training, friends, battles, travels, dramas… So much had happened. All in the course of five measly years.

What would be next?

That's when he felt pain in his shoulder.

"ow-owowowoOW!" He quickly fell to his side with his paw on his shoulder.

"Good, I've been trying to wake you for two minutes." Tigress said, unamused.

"Didya have to- ow.. - hit my shoulder?" Po asked, rubbing his sore shoulder with his paw and arm.

"Well, when not even roaring works, yes." Tigress said plainly.

"Wait.. you roared?" Po asked in awe.

"Yes… I did.. Too bad you missed it." Tigress said as she turned around and started walking away.

"Wait.. can you do it again!?" Po stood up and began jogging after her.

"No."

-{~^-In the kitchen a few minutes later...^~}-

"Please?"  
"No."  
"Pretty please?"  
"No."  
"Aww, why not?"  
"Because No."

The conversation had been going on since the peach tree and wasn't showing any sign of slowing down. All Tigress had said was straight No's, but the panda wasn't going to willingly give up on the first hand.

"But.. but.. *yawn* … I missed it, so can't you do it again?" Po asked pleadingly. He had always wanted to hear Tigress roar, but she never did it. She only let out small snarls and growls while in battle, but never a full out roar. It must sound extremely awesome!

"No." Tigress said again in her plain and irritated voice. She was not changing her mind any time soon.

"Fine… But you owe me a roar later."  
"I owe you nothing."  
Po groaned as they entered the kitchen where Monkey and Crane were seated, discussing something. Both of them glanced at the newcomers just to acknowledge their presence, but quickly turned to each other again to continue their talk. Tigress walked up to her drawer and took a block of Tofu out of it before cutting some pieces off, while Po walked up to another cupboard to excavate some of yesterday's bean buns.  
Po made his way to the table and sat down. His eyelids were getting heavy and he fought to keep them open.

"Po, are you okay? You seem a little… Out of it…" Monkey asked, clearly concerned about his friend.

"Oh no! I am just tired. Was up all night meditating!" Po said, trying hard to sound awake.

"You? Meditating? Are you serious?" Monkey said, clearly not believing a word that Po were saying. Monkey then gave out a chuckle.

"But it is true! Right Tigress?" Po said, looking at Tigress.

Tigress face turned to a frown.  
"Not really meditating, more like thinking, fiddling with your fingers and glancing at peaches for 4 hours…"

"That sounds more like our Po!" Monkey laughed. Crane looked over at Po and gave out a chuckle.

"Sure does." Crane said, smiling.

"Oh! Remember that time we were forced to train through the night as punishment from Master Shifu after me and Po gave him a weird looking bean bun and told him it was a sweet fruit? The look on his face when he put the thing in his mouth was priceless!"  
Monkey said with a smile.

"I still do… I think I still have a sprained ankle after that workout… thank you very much, guys…" Crane muttered.

"I still want to rip your limbs off for that." Tigress' voice was intentionally cold and serious only to make Monkey give out a loud gulp.

"I'd rather if you wou-"

 _ ***THOMP***_

Crane was cut off short by a big sound coming from where Po sat. Monkey, Crane and Tigress stalked around the table only to find Pos' big body on the ground. The contents of a bean bun spread across his face.

"Maybe we should get him to bed?" Monkey asked, looking at the others.

"Yep." Crane confirmed with a sigh. The two warriors then looked at Tigress just to justify Cranes confirmation. They were answered with a deep sigh.

"You guys go ahead, I will just clean the table and do the dishes." Monkey said, knowing he were in the safe zone by not needing to help Po to his room.

"Fine, but Crane, you'll help or so be it you'll never fly again." Tigress said frowning. Crane nodded and gulped as the two warriors started to drag their large friend and out the door and into the sleeping quarters where Po's room were located.

This night was very long, but the day is going to be a short day.

 _ **This chapter was calm just to set the mood a little! The real exciting parts will come later on, that i can promise! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**_

 _ **/Colan :3**_


	3. Chapter 2: Noodles are best served warm

**_This time we were... quite tired. But we wanted to post something! So here it is, Chapter Two of "Dreams of Control! Enjoy! /Neko_**

 _ **Dreams of Control**_ _  
Chapter Two; Noodles are best served warm_

Cola Drinking Cats

Po shot up from the bed and sat up, his eyes wide and his senses alerted. Where was it? He looked around the room, alarmed, but found nothing. He was in his bed and it was night time. He scratched his head with his right paw and looked out the window to look for the moon or sun.

' _6 in the morning. So not-awesome.'_ He thought, as he laid down flat on his back. _  
_  
He had just had another nightmare, this one longer and more forceful than the one before. He couldn't even wake up from it, no matter how hard he tried. Normally you wake up as fast as you realize you're dreaming, but not this time. He sighed to himself. this was going to be unpleasant, wouldn't it?

Then, his nose picked up a horrid smell and he couldn't help but gag when he smelled it. The panda sat up in his bed and stood up before starting to smell around the room, trying to locate who or what caused this incredible odor, only to realize shortly after that it was himself that smelled.

"I really need to take a bath…" he groaned. He walked over to a shelf on the wall and got his bathing gear ready before starting to walk the long stroll toward the bathing hall. He tried to be as quiet as he could so he wouldn't disturb any of the five. He had started to map out the floorboards that doesn't make creak-sounds to walk on, so he actually made it to the end of the corridor without being heard.

' _Success'_ he thought to himself and smiled a satisfactory smile.

The walk to the bathing hall went by faster than he thought, and before he knew it, he was outside the large oak doors.

As Po entered the building he got greeted by nice warm air coming from the heated hot springs that were located inside the wooden structure. He smiled to himself as he walked into one of the pools. The warmth of the water felt nice against his fur and skin. It made him make a calm sigh as he sat down on the bleacher that was rested on the pool floor.

Po took the soap he had and rubbed it under his armpits, on his belly and on his head, making sure to also wash his feet. He didn't know why, but feet always smelled the worse after a long day, even if you wore sandals.

After washing of the remaining soap with the water from the hot spring he just sat in the water and relaxed for a bit. He leaned his head backward and closed his eyes to the noise of the small waterfalls filling the hot springs with new water. The noises were relaxing and calmed his body and mind down. Before he knew it, he was sleeping soundly in the bath.

-{~^^~}-

Half an hour later, he woke up, realizing that he had taken an unintentional nap in the hall.

He stepped out of the bath, water dripping from his body, and used the towel he'd brought to dry off his wet fur.

Done with the towel, he put on his pants and walked back to the quarters. He walked through the corridor on his mapped "Non-creaking" route to his room to drop off the bathing gear he'd brought. After quickly leaving the things on his shelf in his room, he proceeded to continue to the kitchen. He stepped carefully, one foot before the other and slowly, but surely, made his way to the kitchen without waking anyone. He sighed out in relief as he reached the paper doors of the kitchen and carefully slid them open. He looked inside into the darkness and could swear he saw something glow in there. It looked like.. eyes?

"Huh." He muttered under his breath. It was surely nothing but his imagination. He snorted to himself before proceeding to grab a candle and a match that was standing on a shelf just beside the door. He lit the candle and looked inside to see Tigress sitting by the table in the darkness, reading a scroll casually.

"Good morning Panda." Tigress said as soon as the candle was lit, her eyes not leaving the scroll in front of her.  
"Wha-ha, Wha..?" Po said, confused. "I mean.. Good morning.. Tigress…" Po blinked after he had greeted her. Po awkwardly scratched his head and started to walk towards the table. __

"So, Tigress, why are you up so early?" Po asked as he sat down in front of the feline. Tigress looked up at him quickly before continuing to read.

"I could ask you the same." She replied. Po chuckled nervously.

"Couldn't sleep…" he muttered, still loud enough for Tigress' sharp ears to pick it up.

"And why is that if I may ask?" She said slowly as she put away the scroll and directed her attention towards the panda who were looking around the room.

"Uh.. You know… I fell out of my bed and couldn't go back to sleep…" He said, his voice shaking slightly. Tigress raised her eyebrow.

"So that's what you've been doing for three nights now?" She asked as crossed her arms. Po across the table was starting to fiddle with his fingers.

Tigress had purposely not approached him again when he had awoken early, but watched him slightly from the distance. All she had seen was him sitting around deep in thought or napping. The napping part, she did not care much about, however, the thoughts… she wanted very much to know about.

"No… not really… sometimes, I've been hungry, other times I've needed to go to the bathroom… stuff like that." Po said, rambling on. Tigress only narrowed her eyes. He was lying right through his teeth. Not once had he eaten so early in the morning or gone just to do his business. She didn't like this one bit, but with how stubborn Po was… she needed more time, more proof so she could really put him on his spot, or else she might as well give up right now.

"Now, why are you up so early?" Po asked, taking Tigress slightly off guard. But Tigress needed no excuses.

"It's calmer at night and early mornings. It's often I go up earlier to meditate or train in peace." Tigress replied quickly. Po did an 'o' with his mouth, catching her point quickly.

"So… Breakfast?" Po asked sheepishly, shattering the tense air in the room. Tigress sighed and smiled.

"Why not." 

-{~^^~}-

An hour later, Viper, Monkey and Mantis had all awoken. Po was glad to have another set of breakfast and company while Tigress were out to meditate. Crane had woken up a while before Viper, Monkey and Mantis but took off for a morning flight instead of joining Po at the table.

"Soo…" Viper said, eyeing Po as she dragged out the word. "When did you wake up?" She asked curiously.

"Well… I had to take a bath! I woke up because I smelled so bad!" Po joked. It was somewhat true, after all.

"Ew." Mantis said plainly as the rest grimaced, abandoning the subject quickly. Then the five started to talk about the day to come. The subjects varied from taking a walk in the woods, to meditating, to going to the village for some shopping. Po, tried his best to stay focused, but couldn't help but to quickly have his attention fade from the subject at matter. All their words just became a big blur in his head.

"Hey, guys… I am going to go to my dad's." Said Po, standing up.

"Okay, Po. Say hello from us!" Viper said, the others waving. Po nodded as he walked out of the kitchen, making a mental note to at least remember to bring some of his father's noodles back. They were running low.

As he made his way out of the Jade Palace and started to make his way down the stairs, he dreamt of his father's noodles. Their sweet taste and how fulfilling it was to eat a bowl. He also missed his father's cheerful company, and how you couldn't help but to be happy around the old goose. __

And with that, he quickly made his way down the long stairs.

-{~^^~}-

When he arrived at the restaurant, it was full of life. Customers eating and ordering, laughing and talking, even children playing. He loved the atmosphere of this place, it calmed his mind.

"The Dragon Warrior!" A few children bunnies cheered as they ran up to Po. The panda only smiled down at them before bending down to their level.

"Hey guys, How's it going?" He asked, the bunnies smiles turned broader.

"Dragon Warrior, can you tell us the tale of when you defeated the bandits in the Musicians village?" A grey bunny asked, almost jumping up and down because of his excitement. Po chuckled.

"Maybe next time. For now I have to go." And with that he stood up and walked past them before making his way through the lively restaurant. Past the sound of the crowds bustle and hustle, he could make out the sound of his father's voice.

"One order of Dumplings coming right up!"

Po quickly made his way towards the sound of the voice. But before he could even get close…

"Po! It's so good to see you!" Suddenly, his father had made his way to Po without him noticing. He felt the warm embrace of his father's wings around him. Or well, against him. He looked down and saw his father hugging him before quickly letting him go.

"Po, what are you doing here? Running an errand?" He asked. Po smiled but shook his head.

"No, Just felt like seeing you." Then Mr. Ping frowned.

"Po… come inside." He said, quickly noticing a distinct tone in Po's voice. He started to slowly make his way through the crowd, Po following just behind. After making his way through some fans and some more excited children, they arrived at the kitchen and made their way inside.

"Is something the matter?" Mr. Ping asked as he sat down on a chair. Po sighed. Not his dad too…!

"Nothing, I'm fine." He said quickly, but Mr. Ping knew that was not the case.

"Come on Po." He said, looking at the panda.

"I promise dad, It's nothing." Po reassured his father, but he wouldn't let it go.

"I know it's not "nothing"." He said, crossing his wings. This goose wouldn't give up.

"Fine…" Po gave in. He knew he wouldn't be able to get away. "I've been having some nightmares… about Shen…" At least it was partly true.

"I thought so, would you mind telling me what happens in those dreams of yours?" Ping asked. Po looked up and thought for a moment.

"Well. Of course, I'm in them.. and well…I often see my parents… and Shen killing them..." He quickly made up, looking around the kitchen a little. Mr. Ping nodded as he stood up and made his way over to the large bear.

"Oh Po… They're just dreams… Shen is dead, and no one can change what happened." Mr. Ping said reassuringly as he put a wing on Po and comforted him. Po nodded.

"No body blames you and you always still got me."

"Thank's dad…" Po smiled at his father who only smiled back.

"Now, would you like some noodles?" Mr. Ping asked. Po nodded.

"Always." he replied. Mr. Ping could only laugh. He walked over to the large cooking pot and took a bowl before grabbing his ladle to pour some up for the panda.

As Po took his bowl, Mr. Ping looked down into the noodle-pot.

"Ah, why not?" Mr. Ping said, pouring a bowl of noodles for himself.

"Let's enjoy them together!" Mr. Ping proposed as Po smiled. He nodded and they both took a big spoon full of Mr. Pings "Secret Ingredient Soup".

-{~^^~}-

"Thank you dad!" Po said as he waved at his father just as he was exiting the restaurant.

"No problem at all my son." Mr. Ping smiled as he took a customer's order.

"PO!" a voice shouted from the distance. Po looked up too see who it was that had called him to see Crane coming towards him quickly. Just before Crane made impact with the panda, he stopped in mid air.

"Master Shifu is requesting all of us to be in the Great Hall at once! Come on!" He said quickly before turning around to make his way to the palace.

"Wait, what? Why?" Po asked, starting to run after the avian.

"Something about a letter that requests our assistance. Now come on, or Master Shifu will have your head on a stick!" Crane finished before speeding up, Po following as well as he could.

 _ **Ooooh.. Here it comes...! Let the fun... BEGIN! MWUAHAHAHAHAH! I hope you enjoyed this chapter though. As I said in the beginning, we were kinda tired when we got time to write it, but I at least think it came out pretty nicely. Why don't you tell us in the reviews? Don't forget to Fav and Follow if ya liked it! Cye next chap! /Neko**_


	4. Chapter 3: Pack light, ready for fight

**Hello everyone! This is Colan writing this, and I have to say that this chapter took a loong time to make! But it was worth it in the end. We are both really happy with how this chapter turned out! Hope you all like it, and we will see you in the reviews!**

 **/Colan :3**

 _ **Dreams of Control**_ _  
Chapter Three; Pack light, ready for fight._

Cola Drinking Cats

Po's stomach growled from all the noodles he'd eaten. It made him run slower as the pain coming from his upset stomach made it hard to concentrate. Why did this happen right after he met his father? Couldn't this person waited to send the letter so the food could've digested for a little bit? And why couldn't pandas have wings? Or maybe the ability to run on four legs like cats?

"Come on Po! Hurry up!" Crane called for his friend.

"I am… trying… to…*cough* Crane! It… It's... kinda hard!" Po said as loud as his lungs could muster. His throat burned from the running. Po looked up toward the Jade Palace to see for how long he had to run. Almost there. Po smiled to himself as he saw the palace closing in. Curse these stairs! If he'd tried to run up only two years earlier, he'd be a panting ball of fur a third of the way up. His training really had paid off.

Only two minutes later the two of them were up the stairs. Po bent over, panting.

"We don't have any time for that Po! Come on or Shifu will kill us with training!" Crane said, pushing on the panda. "I swear he'll become your personal sparring partner for a month again." Crane threatened, still doing his best to push the large panda in the right direction. But it was no longer necessary as the panda quickly sped up. Shifu as a sparring partner? For a month!? That'd be his funeral for sure!

He sped up and started running across the yard before kicking open the large doors to the Great Hall. Inside, the rest of the Furious Five stood alert in front of Shifu who didn't even look at the newcomers.

"You're late." The red panda spoke as he watched them when they both got in line. Po was still a bit behind. He was panting heavily.

"I'm sorry Master." Crane said as he bowed to Shifu. Shifu nodded and looked over to the panda, who was folded over, trying his best to get the control of his lungs back.

"I.. I'm s... Sorry.. Master…" Po said as he stood straight up, still exhausted, but at least he had it partly under control. He straightened himself as much as he could and stood between Monkey and Viper. Shifu frowned.

"You must learn to be on time, no matter what. When you get back, your punishment will be to mop the entirety of the Great Hall." Crane started to bow, but Po cut him off quickly.

"Wait.. When we get back? Get back from what?" Po asked, watching his master. Shifu looked to the end of the hall where the door to the basement and dungeon were.

"Zeng! Come out here." He called. The door opened, and out came a goose. He was carrying a scroll in his grip and quickly waddled over to the red panda. Shifu muttered a "thank you" to the goose as he handed over the scroll before walking off again. Shifu opened the scroll and started to read out loud;

" 'Hello. My name is Lee Chan, head of the hidden village between the mountains. We tried our best to conceal ourselves from the outside world, for reasons who are classified, but now a clan of bandits are threatening our village and we can not fight them off by ourselves. Our village is lacking in warriors and the numbers of the bandit clan is too great for us to handle. That is why I am asking the Dragon Warrior as well as the Furious Five to help us with this threat. Our village lies a distance away from the Valley of Peace. The journey ahead will take about a week if traveling at quick pace. Follow the Zhú trail until you come to a large waterfall with a stone shaped like a pig's nose. Go through that waterfall. Do not worry for there will be a cave within it. Then just go with the cave until you come to an opening. There you will find our village. Please come quickly, I fear that we can not hold out for much longer'."

Shifu was quiet for a couple of seconds to let all the information sink in. Then he continued, rolling the piece of paper back to a paper roll.

"Everyone shall start their packing. You will all leave tomorrow morning."

"Yes, Master!" Everyone said in synchronization, and left for the living quarters.

As Po walked toward the living quarters, he heard the other five talk about the journey ahead. Normally he would participate in their conversation, but… He felt too out of it to get into it, so to speak.

"Hey, Po! You have been so quiet, what do you think of this mission?" Monkey asked.

"Oh… Erhm… It will be awesome to do something, but we're still having a break, so it is a little sad that it had to end." Po shared, clearly sounding uninterested in the topic.

"Hey Po… How are you feeling? You're never this… silent." Monkey said, his face coated with expressions and marks of concern. Couldn't everyone just stop mentioning that?

"I have been having some trouble sleeping. Don't worry about it." He said plainly as he walked into his room. Monkey didn't find the answer fulfilling.

"Come on, Po! We are your friends! You should be able to tell us what it is." He said, the other four backing up monkey.

"Guys, I am feeling FINE, alright? Yes I have trouble sleeping and it is making me a little tired! Can you _please_ drop it now?" Po said, clearly annoyed at the anthropoid's questionnaire.

"Okay! Sorry for caring!" Monkey said, leaving the doorway and went toward his own room. The other four went toward their own dorm room as well. Tigress lingered a little longer though, eyeing the panda, but eventually she left as well without uttering a word. Po gave out a small sigh and continued his packing.

Finally done with the packing, Po sat down on his bed. He went through everything he packed one more time;

Extra pants, extra sandals, a blanket and a pillow, leftover dumplings, vegetables(like radishes and potatoes), a water pouch, five extra water pouches and a box of matches.

He had everything packed and ready. Po looked at his pillow. He wanted to rest his head on it so badly, but he knew that those nightmares would just appear. Maybe he could just… stay awake? He'd done it before, so why couldn't he do it again? But what would he do up anyways...

Wake one of the five? No, he couldn't disturb them.. He had to come up with something outside the living quarters, away from his sleeping comrades. He frowned as he opened the thin paper slide door and peeked out. Coast is clear...

Maybe he could sneak over to the peach tree? Spend his night there? No, Tigress would probably see him there. It was her main meditation spot after all… Curse nocturnal felines!

' _What about… no… How about… Noooo!'_ He thought angrily. He couldn't do anything without either notifying one of his sleeping comrades, running into the night active Tigress, being incredibly bored or having to walk away from the Jade Palace.

Po thought of every possible thing he could do but he only found obstacles that would make it impossible for him to do anything without being caught. He made an irritated groan, but as fast as he noticed how loud it sounded, he slapped a hand over his mouth and wished he hadn't ever done so. He heard a something move in the room beside him, but as fast as the sound had appeared, it vanished and the room turned just as silent as it had been before. Po sighed and closed his mouth, making sure to be as quiet as possible. He had to do something, but he had to get some rest before tomorrow too! His mouth turned into a bigger frown as he pondered about what he should do.

' _Maybe I should ask someone for help? No, then I'd have to tell them… Maybe… Maybe I need to sleep away from my room? But where...'_

Po thought as he went through his options again. Then he came up with his solution.

' _The Dragon Grotto!'_

He was onto something. The Dragon Grotto wasn't very far away, and he doubted Tigress ever would go there. It was calm, peaceful…

He had to go there. Po stepped outside the room through the still open door and stepped carefully on the floor boards, going along his usual 'Non-creaking' route, but slightly quicker than usual, before hurrying out of the wooden building that housed his fellow teammates. He doubted Tigress was out already. She had to sleep sometime, right? Maybe she caught some hours in the evening. Then again, she was good at stealth so she may have snuck out already.

If that was the case, he had to hurry.

He quickly entered the yard and went outside the gates before taking up a small path just beside them. The path was hard to navigate in the darkness of the night, but he tried his best. After a few trips over roots and squeezes between trees later, he was there.

' _The Dragon Grotto...'_ He thought as he marvelled at the sight. He had been there before, sure, but every time he still could only look in awe at the magnificent cavern. He smiled as he looked along the edges of it. Plenty of soft moss, roof above his head, calm air… It was perfect.

He walked along the edge of the cavern and found a mostly moss covered smooth stone surface. It would have to do. He quickly sat down and felt the moss against his palms. It was soft, slightly damp. But he couldn't care less. He smiled and laid down, placing his paws under his head as he laid on his side and quickly drifted off into the mindless land of dreams and sleep.

-{~^^~}-

Po woke up by a terrible chill running through his spine. It wasn't a normal shiver, this was something else. It felt… out of this world... In weird way. He touched the ground while slowly opening his eyes. He didn't feel any of that soft moss or the smooth stone beneath it. The only thing he felt was hard, cold dirt. He sat up and looked around, seeing nothing but a weak light some distance away. Po narrowed his eyes to try and see what was emitting the light.

"Hello?" The panda called out, but all he heard was his voice's echo. Po stood up and walked towards the light, trying to find any clues as to where he were.

But as he tried to walk closer to the light, it went further away from him. He walked faster but it just made the light go faster as well. Then he stopped. The light was a strong yellow. It hurt to look directly at it. He huffed and braced himself before starting to run towards the odd looking light. But just as he thought he was coming closer, it disappeared. It was now all black around him. Nothing but black for miles on end.

"Wha…" He mouthed. It was a pitch black darkness, yet he could still perfectly see his paws, stomach and… well, everything. Like he was… Illuminated. Po blinked and then started to walk straight ahead towards where the light once had been. After walking for five minutes without anything new happening, he started running. He ran and ran, but quickly noticed something else… He wasn't getting tired. He felt like he could run for miles without panting once. He smiled and sped up. Still nothing. At least he didn't need to worry about being tired. Then the world shook.

" _ **NOT SO FAST!"**_ A deep and loud voice called out. The black around started to shatter like broken glass and fell down. Behind the large chunks of whatever it was that fell down, there was a forest. A red forest.

"Oh not again…" Po exclaimed. He recognized this too well.

" _ **What do you think you are doing?"**_ The voice echoed out as the last shards of blackness fell into the ground and vapourized into a black cloud that quickly rose up to the heavens before disappearing completely.

"Getting out of here!" Po shouted at the entity, wherever it may have been. He turned around several times always expecting the creature to be right behind him.

" _ **That will not be possible. How can you get out of here when you are dreaming? This is your dream, is it not?"**_ the voice called out.

"I know that this is my dream! How can I be fully aware of everything, but not wake up?!" Po shouted, his voice coated with confusion. Po had a lucid dream once before… Or a beginning of it anyways. But he woke up as fast as he realised that he was in a dream. In this dream he had full control over his body and thoughts, but he still couldn't wake up. Last time it took him 3 hours to wake up. And now he has to travel to that village in need, too! He could only imagine how much "fun" this mission would be with only restless or nonexistent sleep.

"Why are you doing this?" Po asked as he looked up and around for the voice, but just as all the other times he had done so, he saw nothing.

" _ **Finally a question worthy of answering! But then again… What is the fun in answering it in a simple way?"**_ The voice spoke ominously. Po narrowed his eyes.

"And what do you mean by that?" He said, simply looking up into the sky. He knew that he wouldn't be able to see this mysterious entity.

" _ **It is simple. I will answer it with a small… riddle. Just like every other bad guy there ever was."**_ The voice chuckled.

' _Great...'_ The panda thought. Just what he needed.

" _ **And here goes… 'The nonexisting sleep makes you weak, just when our paths will meet.. Then your inner lights will go off, and my wrath will become your new path.' "**_

"What? Where in the universe does that possibly make sense?" Po shouted. He thought this was incredibly stupid. His whole body agreed with him on this. Why make it complicated with a riddle?

" _ **That is all I will say young warrior. Now… have fun making it in time."**_ The voice spoke. Po could hear him smiling as he spoke.

Po was ready to say something, to speak back, when he felt the world shaking beneath his very feet. He ran toward the trees, but when he got close they pushed him back into the same clearing he was trying to run away from. As he touched the ground with his paws, it felt sticky. Like when you had boiled sugar and got it on the paws. Disgusted, he tried to lift them up, but they wouldn't budge. They were stuck. Po was frightened and started to drag and pull as hard as he could, but nothing could make the ground release them. Suddenly, he realised that in his panic, the ground had started swallowing him. He got terrified and started to move around as much as he could. It wasn't to any use as he only sank deeper and deeper into the dirt he stood on. He gave out a last scream before he was completely drowned in the solid ground.

 **Oooh… Exciting, huh? Well, the real exciting parts has yet to come! Thank you all for your awesome reviews and your amazing support for this story!**

 **/Colan :3**


	5. Update and Mini-Thing for your enjoyment

So, Me and my friend were up late writing. And we got really tired. REALLY TIRED. So we wrote small one-shots...

So, Backstory:  
Me and a friend developed an inside joke when writing Chapter 1 for this story... Basically, we discussed what was good grammar and not. So, I said...

"Example of bad grammar;  
"AJJ LÖV U POO!"  
"AJ LÖV U TOO THAI-DRESS!" (Thai-dress obviously meaning Tigress)  
Then since we were tired, we found it incredibly funny. And it became an inside joke. Then we joked around some more, like changing every "Tigress" in the document of chapter 2 to "Thai-Dress" and more.  
Then, I left Colan for 10 minutes when starting to write chapter 3.  
The first one, Written by Colan:

 _"The sun rose high and mighty over the valley of peace. The wind gave of a nice breeze to contrast the beaming heat coming from the sun. A perfect day actually..._

 ** _(It was here that I left Colan for 5 minutes.)_**

 _ONLY THAT IT WAS NOT_

 _COOSE THAI-DRESS MARRRY THAI-LUNG AN POO CULDNT DU ANTIN ABOOT ITT!_

IZ HORRIBLE! DEN POO GO TO MARRIGE AN SY:

STAP THAI-KWAN-LUNG! GET AWY FRUM MAH THAI-DRESS!"

"AHA, POO! IT IZ LATE TOO! TIGRESS SOON SAY YES ME TOO!" THAI-LANGG SYA MEANINGLY.

"POO, SAAV MAH BOOTEH!" TIGRESS SKRREM.

"I WIL, THAI-DRESS! AJ LÖV U!"

"AJ LÖV U TUU POO!"

DEN THAIKWANDUNGDAJ CUZ POO USE SWORD IN HIS SWORD IN HIS EAR!

THEN THAI-DRESS MARRRRRY POOOOOOO BECUZ DEY LÖÖÖÖV ETODER!

DEN THEY MAKE BUUUUUTIFUL HUBRID BABEHZ DAT LÖV DEM!

THE ENND!"

yeah. So, we had fun to that.

Then apparently, I had been the one left to write parts of the 3rd chapter at the end of it. And I got tired. We both opened the document to find another text, written by me that I had no idea about.

Here you go:

 _IT VAS A BOTIFUL DAJ IN DA VALLEH AN POO AN THAI-DRESS VER IN DEEP PIT OF LÖVIN. POO HAD KUNFASSED HES FELINS TUWARDS THAI-DRESS AN SE FELT DA SAME. DAN POO RELISE_

 _"_ _WHA ABUT MASTA SHY-TOFU?" HE ASK. THAI-DRESS DEN SA SHY-TOFY RUNIN TUWARDS DEM._

 _"_ _AJ VIL KIL U BEER FUR LUVIN MAH STRIPED AN IMPURTED DRESS FRUM THAILAND."_

 _POO GALPED AN RAN AWY. BUT DEN SHY-TOFY CAM AFTAH AN PO HIT HIS NOS WIT A SOUPSTICK. DAN DEY LIV HAPULY AVAR AFTAR AN GUT A HYBRID BAJBAJ DAT WAS PANDA AN TIGER WIT FANCY DRESS. DA END._

 _almus prfkt. nedz mur shuutin._

 _9.5/10 - IGN_

That was apparently written by me. Just so you know, I am incredibly ashamed.

Anyways, I'm also gonna bring some stuff up while we are here.  
This is just a middle chapter of Dreams of Control. Me and Colan are writing the 4th chapter right now. You can expect it maybe today (If we work fast and stay up for 4 more hours, it's 12:25 AM right now), or you can expect it tomorrow. Or the day after that if someone gets busy.

Busy is the next point.  
Right now, we both have quite a lot of free time. Since the prologue, Colan have actually been out of town, but we've been lucky as she has had a lot of free time. Now, we are not gonna set a deadline, like "One chapter every 3 days", or "One chapter every week."  
We will write when we can, and as fast as the chapters get finished, we upload them.

So, if there comes a time where we don't update in a while, we are both busy. If too much time passes, one of us will try to write the next chapter.

Now, Colan will be going home on Wednsday, and after that she will be busy for 4 days. So no updates then can be promised. Just a warning.  
We both have lives and other things we want to do. If one is busy, the other might write a little in case she is feeling it, but most of the writing will be done together, so it's all about us being free at the same time.

Just so you know.

Now, I hoped you enjoyed the small... mini things... we wrote there. It's not the next chapter, but it's something. As I said, we are currently writing. Just wait.

Anyways, have a good day, See you in the next chapter. /Neko


	6. Chapter 4: What goes around comes around

**Wow. I'm... sincerely sorry. I did not think that it would take this long for us to get a moment to write. Seriously, I'm very sorry! xD**

 **Well, we did get it together in the end, didn't we? So, I hope you enjoy it! /Neko**

Dreams of Control  
Chapter Four; What comes around, goes around

Cola Drinking Cats

Po yelped as he launched himself upward. The movement was so fast that a nerve located in his neck started to hurt, filling Po with an even louder yelp. He laid back down and begun to breathe quickly. He felt cold sweat running down his furred brow as he located the nerve. He rubbed it tenderly to maybe make it feel better. Luckily it wasn't anything bad, it was just a nerve that got in a wrong place.

As Po tended to the nerve he sat up more carefully and looked around him to figure out his location. The forest is gone, thank goodness. But he was in the Dragon Grotto. He remembered the night before very clearly, making the panda panic.

'Oh no! What time is it!?" Po thought as he ran out of the majestic cavern to see where the sun was located. Po gave out an irritated sigh as he ran toward the sleeping quarters. According to the position of the sun it was probably around 6-7 AM.

Master Shifu would be furious and the five would be even MORE concerned and more prone to get the truth out of the bear.

Instead of running toward the door of the quarters, Po took a turn toward his window located in his room. If he was fortunate he could maybe fit through it. He couldn't go in through the main door, it was far too risky. Po thought of all the possible outcomes of this little adventure.

He could have problems fitting through the window so he'd get stuck, he could be perfectly fine, he could find that everyone's gone because he wasn't there… He could find them all waiting in the room to see him coming in through the window… But it was the only choice he had on his hand.

He looked at the window. He would fit if he could suck his belly in enough. Po grabbed the edge of the window and slid it to the side, opening it. He grabbed the frames of the window and started to pull himself upward. When his chin reached the frame he put his arms in there fully and pulled himself in. His belly got stuck, but he sucked his belly in as much as he could and made his way through. He landed on his head, making a loud thump in the process. The door to his room opened as Master Shifu went in to see the panda on the floor just beside his bed, flat on his back and holding his head.  
"Panda!" Shifu said loudly in a voice coated with anger.

"Yes, Master!" Po said as good as he can while standing up straight.

"What do you think you are doing?!"

Po blinked at the red panda before chuckling nervously.

"Well, you see… I wa-"  
"I don't care about what you were dreaming, why were you not up on time?!" Shifu barked angrily at the panda. Po blinked again as he tried to make sense of what his master had said.

He blinked once.  
Twice.  
Three times, and then he got it.

"Oh! Uh… Sorry, Master Shifu." Po said as he bowed. Shifu had helped him without noticing it by covering his tracks.

"You will get punishment for this sooner or later, but now, you have to leave. The others are waiting at the gates." Shifu said sternly. He picked up Po's large backpack on the floor with Oogway's staff and threw it at Po who barely caught it before the red panda smacked the bear in the head.

"Now, go." He said as the panda scurried out of his room and through the corridor.

"He'll never learn." Shifu muttered under his breath as the panda exited the corridor.

As Po got to the gates he saw the Furious Five there, waiting for him.

"Took you long enough!" Mantis exclaimed as the panda reached them, panting. The bug was lying on his back on top of Crane's straw hat, sunbathing. All eyes were on the panda who only laughed nervously.

"Doesn't matter, you're here now, and we need to get a move on." Tigress said as she started running down the stairs. The rest of the five quickly followed, leaving the panda on top of the stairs.

"Alright then… let's go."

As the six companions exited the town in a rapid pace, Po looked back at the Jade Palace. Maybe he should've told the five the truth about all this?

'No! If I would've told them they would just worry about me. I just have to not sleep that deeply. I can't enter those dreams around then. I can do this' Po thought. He turned his head forward only to be met by Tigress' glare. Po met her gaze cautiously. First they were the same hard eyes as they always were. But then Po saw something flash, just for a second. Was that… Worry in her eyes? But as fast as it appeared it disappeared, and Tigress turned her face forward. Po's eyes were stuck on Tigress. He didn't just imagine that, did he? There really was worry in her eyes. He had only seen that once and that was when they were in Gongmen, but that were completely different circumstances. Was she really worried about him not telling the truth?

"We have to pick up the pace. Since someone didn't wake up on time we are a couple hours behind schedule." Tigress said while glancing once more at the panda before quickly averting her eyes to their course. She sped up her jog to a run, and the other five did the same. Po blushed behind his big coat of fur and looked down, as to hide his face.

They had only been running for an hour, but for Po, it felt like several days had gone by. He was panting heavily, his lungs and throat burning. He looked to his side where a water pouch were hanging with a hook into his pants. It would help the bear if he could take a sip… It wouldn't hurt anyone, right?

Po glanced at the five who were all focused on running. He grabbed his water pouch from his side and took a sip from it. One sip turned to two sips, and two sips turned into four sips, and so on. Po drank and drank until his water pouch was completely drained from its liquid content and Po's desire for water was no more. He felt refilled and put the water pouch back on his hip. While he still was tired and exhausted, his throat didn't burn as much and he felt a refreshing feeling go through his body.

They ran and ran until dawn came and then they ran some more. They didn't stop until the moon stood high and mighty in the night sky.

The group of warriors came to a sudden halt at a clearing by the road. The clearing had nothing special in it. Only a larger rock. It was more than enough for the travelling masters.

"We'll set up camp here. Be sure to rest, we have a long day tomorrow." Tigress said and looked at everyone. Viper and Crane helped each other unpack their bamboo piles that they used as pillows. Po put his backpack down and was about to unpack as something touched his back. He jumped a little and stared at who did this.

"Po, a word?" Tigress said and walked away from the camp. Po looked at Tigress as she walked further from the camp. What did she want? Is it about earlier this week, or is it something else?. He eventually stood up and walked after the striped feline, his mind still wandering. She walked for quite a distance into the woods, probably making sure the others would not hear their conversation. She stopped by a large tree that stood alone in the bamboo forest. In its bark, old carvings of battles were. Marks from swords and arrows. Tigress leaned against it as she crossed her arms and proceeded to watch the panda as he walked closer.

"Okay, so I'm here. What did you want, Tigress?" Po asked questioningly.

"I want you to tell me why you snuck around the Jade Palace yesterday." Tigress said, her eyes hard. Po's eyes went wide as he quickly tried to think of a excuse of some sort. Anything would work.

"Erhm… I wanted to visit the Dragon Grotto before going to bed! I needed to do some inner peace stuff, you wouldn't know…" Po said, trying to keep his eyes in check.

"So why didn't you come back down from there?" Tigress asked.

"I did! I was in my room when Shifu sent me out to you guys!" Po answered quickly.

"When he sent you out yes. But I meant before you climbed in through your window." Tigress voice was coated with underlying irritation. She was tired on all these lies that was so obvious a dim candle could shine through them.

"And you tell the others that you went up to bathe, when you told me that you couldn't sleep. I want an explanation, and not the usual lies you try to pull, but the real truth." Tigress said as she started walking closer to the panda. Po backed up as to counter Tigress' movements. The feline started to scare Po.

"I was both! I couldn't sleep and I had to-"

"NO. MORE. LIES." Tigress growled. Po backed up and hit a thick piece of bamboo, making it impossible for him to back up further. "You'll tell me what's going on, and you'll tell me right now."

"I SWEAR TIGRESS, I AM NOT-"

"YOU ARE, PANDA!" Tigress snarled. as she hit a big piece of bamboo beside him, making it fall to the ground with a big bam. Po hadn't been this scared before in his entire life. He had to tell the truth. He had to.

"OKAY! I WILL TELL YOU!" Po shouted back at her. Tigress backed away with one steady step before proceeding to lock her eyes onro his.

"Then speak." She spoke, not with a threatening tone anymore, but it still scared the large bear.

"I've had nightmares since a week back. And this isn't regular bad dreams. I can control myself, almost like a lucid dream, but I cannot control my surroundings or anything else than my movement. And there is this voice, a really, really annoying voice. I haven't been able to control when I wake up or not, and I haven't been resting since. That dream isn't resting or sleeping, it is something real that happens in dream form! I am terrified of sleeping and I didn't want you guys to worry!" Po said, defeated by the tiger. He turned his head down, to show that she won. What he couldn't see was that Tigress looked at him with concerning eyes. She quickly regained control of her facade and spoke.

"You could've told me, told us, earlier. We are your friends Po."

"But I didn't want you to worry. Please, don't tell the rest! They will only pity me, and it's really annoying…!" Po pleaded. Tigress looked at him for a while.

"Okay, I wont tell them. But you'll have to tell them after this mission is over." Tigress said as she put a paw on Po's shoulder. Po looked at the paw and then at Tigress, and then at the paw again. He felt his cheeks getting hot again. Luckily his fur hid his reddened cheeks. He looked at Tigress who looked at her paw. She quickly removed it and gave out a little huff.

"We should go back. Try to not sleep too deeply, Panda. We need you to be as well rested as you can when we travel, and if those dreams only come when you sleep deeply..." Tigress said with a tint of concern as she walked toward camp. Po nodded as he quickly walked behind Tigress as they walked back to camp.

-{~^^~}-

The next morning when Po woke up, he had his head resting on his soft pillow. He had taken Tigress' advice, and had meditated till he fell asleep. Mainly because, whenever he did that, he slept rather lightly. It had worked, and he felt better now than what he had done in a week. That was the good news. The bad news was that he had been awoken by Crane, and they were half an hour late.

Po quickly gathered his belongings,, but since he didn't have the time, he could only press his pillow and blanket into the backpack. This, of course, didn't quite work since they didn't fit inside if they weren't folded and neatly tucked in. He struggled for a minute before he was told to hurry up, and so he did. He loosely placed the hatch of the backpack on top of the half-tucked in blanket and begged to anyone and everyone that it would stay in there. He knew that he wouldn't be allowed to run back to get it later. He grabbed an apple from his backpack and put a water pouch on the edge of his pants before joining the five in their running. The next stop would be a smaller village that was a few miles ahead. It would take around seven hours to get there if they ran the entire time, which was the goal of them all. When they were there, they would be able to get to an inn and refuel.

The bamboo forest the warriors ran through were boring and plain. Nothing to see, really. Sure, the view of the mountains in the distance were spectacular, and the sunrise they got to see was amazing, but besides that, nothing happened. Only when Po tripped on a misplaced stone in the middle of the dirt road did something happen, and that wasn't funny to any of the warriors as it only slowed them down by at least five minutes. They were all exhausted and wanted to get to the small village as fast as possible. But the peaceful jog was suddenly halted by Viper's voice of panic.

"BANDITS!"

 **OoOoOOOEh! Stuff happening? Are you excited?! I mean, what if one of them gets wounded, or what if they get defeated by the bandits sheer numbers? How many are there even!? AND HOW SKILLED ARE THEY!? Do not fear Readers! It shall all be answered.  
Feel free to guess and tell us how we're doing in the reviews for now!  
Until next time, Cheers! /Neko**


	7. Chapter 5: Strange things happen at nigh

_**Hi everyone! Colan here, and I gotta say… This is the longest chapter we've written so far! It took a long time as well… Hope you all like it!**_

 _ **/Colan :3**_

 _ **Dreams of Control**_ _  
Chapter Five; Strange things happen at night_

Cola Drinking Cats

Po jumped at Vipers panicking voice who also made him stop in his tracks. Did he really hear right? He looked to his right were Viper was pointing to have his fears confirmed. Running towards them were three boars, two geese and five wolves. They were running fast. Very fast. Po yelped silently as he started to desperately try to get the backpack off his back, but he started to fumble as he saw that the bandits only came closer. The five had already stopped and were ready in a battle stance. He panicked but eventually gave up on the backpack. It was now fitting weirdly on his back, making it harder for him to enter his usual fighting stance, but he had no time to fix it now. He would have to try to fight with it in this weird position.

Right off the bat, there were a boar and two wolves coming closer to him. They stood and inspected him for a while before the boar took action. The boar pulled up his arms and ran to push the panda onto his back. Po quickly tried to flip backwards to avoid a boar, but failed because of the enormous backpack weighing him down. He groaned and tried to get up on his feet again but quickly realised that that would not happen. While the boar still missed, he was now stuck on his back. The boar gave out a small but pleased grunt and pulled out his sword. The two wolves joined in with with their own weapons. One were wielding a one handed back as well as a shield, while the other wielded double daggers. Po put all his muster into trying to stand up, but in vein. The backpack was far too heavy. Po gave out a mutter as he thought of the best way to solve this. He watched as the bandits slowly came closer to him.

Po finally took action as he used his arms to push him around into a spin, using his legs to try and kick the bandits respectively. He managed to hit the boar which made him fly into a rock, knocking him out. Then using the momentum of his spinning, he flailed up onto his legs and looked at his two remaining enemies. One wolf gave out a growl as he came closer to the panda, his axe held high. Po quickly grabbed the wolf's arm and spun him around, the wolf following the motion into a fast spin. In the middle of the spin however, the wolf dropped the axe he was holding, making the handle fall on Po's right foot. Po let go of the wolf, sending him flying, and gave out a big scream filled with pain. The wolf spiraled out of control into a big piece of bamboo.

The other wolf saw his chance and ran at Po, his knives held like an expert. Po quickly pulled away the heavy axe with his paws and tried to put himself into his fighting stance. He quickly realised that his foot wasn't alright at all, making him shift his leverage onto his other foot. The wolf dropped to the ground trying to sweep the panda off his feet. Po quickly tried to jump with his good foot, but the wolf still managed to make him fall to the ground. Po quickly caught himself with his hands and spun around. That failed as he fell onto his back because of the extra leverage on his back. The wolf jumped onto Po, having him in a tight grip with his legs. He lifted his knives high, but before he could do anything a blur of orange, black and white hit him like a cannon ball. Po watched in awe as Tigress pushed the bandit and ended up in the top. Po quickly spun around and got on his feet(since this seemed to be the best method of standing up with this cursed backpack on his back) and got into a fighting stance that didn't hurt his foot. He turned around to see a goose with a cleaver in his wings.

The panda quickly tried to kick the goose(trying his best not to hurt his damaged foot more), but the bird turned out to be very quick as it quickly dodged. Po quickly got into his stance as he looked to his side to see the goose jumping onto him with his cleaver coming in head first. Po tried to dodge as best as he could, but he could feel the side of his pants being ripped up by the cleaver. He thanked the gods that it hadn't made contact with his skin and only had brushed his fur. He spun around and kicked the cleaver out of the goose's hand before punching the bird away. He turned around to see the five waiting for him to finish. Once he saw that they were glancing between him and his backpack, he flushed and laughed awkwardly.

"Why are you wearing your backpack?" Viper asked, confusion coating her voice.

"Oh! Ehrm… Yeah I... " He started, preparing a lie, but then gave up because no excuses was believable enough. He sighed and scratched the back of his head "I couldn't get it off…".

Monkey and Mantis gave out a snort as they forced themselves to not laugh.

"No matter, we need to continue. We were late to begin with." Tigress pointed out and started walking. "Is anyone hurt?" She asked as she looked back.

Po raised his hand awkwardly.

"I am…" He said.

"Where are you hurt, and how?" Tigress asked and came closer to the panda.

"A wolf dropped an axe on my foot earlier. I can't stand on it properly." Po said and sat down, making sure his foot wasn't in a weird angle. Tigress sat down in front of him, taking a look on his foot.

"Can you move it?" She asked. Po tried to move his toes, with some success. It hurt though. "Good. Then it isn't broken. Mantis, patch him up."

"Yes Tigress!" He said and saluted. He looked in their bag of medical supplies and found their bandage. He moved closer to Pos foot but stopped about 4 inches away.

"I… I'm not sure if I wanna do this…" he hesitated.

"You can do this, Mantis!" Monkey and Crane said, trying to encourage him. This wasn't what made him do the task though, it was the glare Tigress shot at him that encouraged him.  
Mantis groaned slightly before sighing.

"Po, can you please take off your sandal?" Mantis asked the large bear.

"Oh, of course!" He said while slowly removing the sandal, his foot hurting by every move he made. He fiddled with it for about two minutes before Tigress gave up and removed the sandal with one sweep. Po was about to scream but quickly covered his mouth with his paws to keep it inside. He didn't want to attract more bandits… Or something worse.

"I'm sorry Po, but we can't take our time here. It is already bad enough that your foot is wrenched, we can't live in the luxury of spending time right now. Mantis you need to patch him up quickly. The rest of us will run ahead and try to find something that might help us with this dilemma." Tigress said while standing up. Everyone quickly heeded to her commands. Mantis quickly wrapped Po's strained foot in bandages. Po, being stunned by pain and having a hard time following Mantis' fast way of working barely saw/noticed it.

Finally done with the injury, Mantis signaled Po to stand up.

"Don't put too much weight on it." Mantis warned as he jumped up on Po's shoulder. Po grabbed his sandal and surprisingly managed to squeeze in his thickly bandaged foot into the footwear. He stood up and with the backpack still on his, well, back, he started running (well, limping really) in the direction of where his comrades had gone.

-{~^^~}-

After Po started limping toward the five, Monkey came running with a big stick in his hand. It was a bit shorter than Po, and it worked perfectly as a substitute of some sort of crutch. Sadly because of all the excitement of that day, the six warriors could never make it to the town in time for nightfall. They had to run about two extra hours (with frequent breaks for Po) to get to the shops and stands were closed (as expected), thus the warriors had to wait for the sun to come back up until they could refuel. At least there were a nice inn where the warriors could sleep in that was still open.

"100 YUAN!?" Po shouted in dismay at the innkeeper. This better be one of those inns where you get one of those fancy chocolates and a pair of nice slippers for free!

"For all of you, yes." The innkeeper confirmed. Po stared at the innkeeper, eyes wide. This must be theft at some degree!

"But those people are the furious five and I'm the dragon warrior! Surely you can get us some sort of discount…" Po tried.

"Oh you are? Here let me just drop all of our other guests and give you free rooms! Oh I see that there are people behind you too! They can get out as well, right?" The innkeeper said in a sarcastic voice. Po seemed to miss that though.

"Oh, no you don't have to do that, but free rooms would be great!" Po smiled. Behind him the rest of the five facepalmed.

"I was sarcastic. So, either you pay up or get out of here! I have other customers who wants to be served!" The innkeeper said, his voice coated with annoyance.

"We'll be back when we've made a decision then." Po said and walked off to the side with the five.

"Okay, what do you guys think? Is it worth spending 100 yuan on one night?" Po asked.

"Of course it is! We get a bed to sleep in! A real bed!" Monkey exclaimed, dreaming about the wonders of sleeping in something so soft and fluffy as a bed.

"Po, you really need to rest your foot, and sleeping on the ground isn't exactly the best thing for it right now." Mantis said. Po looked disappointed, but he nodded anyway.

"Okay then. We'll have to spend 100 yuan at this inn… for one night…" Po sighed.

They rented three rooms. All rooms had two beds. Viper and Tigress, the girls, obviously took one, while the male warriors shared the others. The guys decided that Monkey and Mantis will share one room room while Crane and Po took the other..

"This will be awesome! We can tell ghost stories, share secrets… We can even have pillow fights!" Po said with a big smile on his face.

"Or we could just… Y'know… Sleep." Crane suggested, avoiding Po's eyes.

"Oh… Yeah, right…" Po said while looking down, a little embarrassed. The rest of the way to the room, the two warriors just walked in silence.

It didn't take too long to get to their room, 4 minutes at most, and it was quite a nice looking room. Small, but nice. There were (as promised) 2 beds in the room. One at the right side and one at the left. There were also 2 cupboards (small ones beside each bed) and a little table with two chairs.

"I'll take the left one, if that's alright with you." Crane said.

"Oh, of course!" Po said and went to the bed on the right. Po removed the already set pillows and blankets and started to unpack his own pillow and blanket (who luckily survived the running and the bandit attack) and put them on the bed.

"You need any help?" Po asked Crane.

"Oh no, I'm fine thanks." Crane reassured and continued with his unpacking.

"Okay. Ask if you need help with anything, anything at all." Po smiled and sat down on his bed. He fixed so that his wrenched foot sat on the bed and he stared out the window, waiting for Crane to finish unpacking.

When Crane was done unpacking the warriors agreed that it was time to sleep. Though Po wouldn't sleep, he would lie down and meditate to achieve a light sleep so he wouldn't have to be in one of those… dreams. If they even were that.

Po was just about to fall asleep when he heard something. It sounded like… A door? He opened his eyes and looked around the room. He found… nothing. Which was exactly what the problem was. Where was Crane? Where could he have gone?

Po, clearly curious, went after his friend. He snuck up from bed, being careful to not harm his foot even further. He waited until the door had closed until he made a move out from the room. His steps were cautious as he followed after his fellow warrior. The feathered back was a few meters ahead. Crane did a left for the stairs. Was he going out?

Down the stairs, out in the lobby, out the door, down the streets… what is he doing?

Finally when they were just a little bit out of town, in a creek of some kind, Crane stopped. Po almost continued going forward, but ducked away in the last second behind a large tree. Luckily Crane didn't hear him stumble behind it. Po sat down, being careful with his broken foot.

"Viper? Viper are you there?" Crane called out cautiously. He stepped carefully on the ground, looking around him every few seconds.

' _Wait… What?'_ Po thought to himself as he peeked out from behind the tree.

"Here I am!" A voice called back. Po jumped at the sound of her voice. What was going on here?

Po saw a slithering body crawl across the grass, head held high. Yes it was really Viper. Po peeked out a little further.

"Hi! Erhm… Hi." Crane said awkwardly. Viper gave out a giggle and touched his wing a little.

"Aren't we passed 'playing cool' now?" She said smiling wide. Po's eyes went wide. What does she mean by that?

Crane gave out a small nervous laugh at this.

"Yeah.. You're right." He said with a genuine smile.

"Soo… What do you want to do?" Viper asked Crane.

"I don't know… This is a new town after all and I don't want anyone spotting us…" Crane said, looking around himself again.

"That's right… Then shall we watch the stars? We have a lovely view of them here." Viper suggested.

"That sounds… great, actually." Crane smiled and sat down. Viper slithered next to him and put her head against him. Crane wrapped a wing around her body and they sat there, watching the stars together. Po just sat there, eyes wide at his friends. Were they… a couple!? Po felt his cheeks heating at the thought of this. Po had seen enough. He had to get away or he'd faint for sure. He started making his way out of the woods, being careful to watch his step.

"Look at that!" Viper said. Po jumped at the sound of her voice.

"It is the big dipper!" Crane said in return, making Po jump once more. Can't the two of them just shut up?!

Po crept away, distracted by their "Ooh"s and "Aah"s at the stars. But unfortunately, he stepped on a branch. Po's eyes widened as a big * _crack*_ echoed throughout the whole forest. Or at least it felt like it was the whole forest.

"Who's there!?" Crane and Viper shouted at the same time. Po freaked out and started to run, forgetting completely that one of the people he was watching had wings. And with his wrenched foot in consideration, this was not the best running conditions. Crane flew up to him in no time, stopping him in his tracks.

"Okay mister! Who are you and wha…. Po!?" Crane gave out.

"Po!?" Viper said in confusion as she slithered closer to Po and Crane.

"Oh! Hey… guys! I just… passed by… Couldn't sleep, you know…" Po made up. He was sweating of nervousness. Stupid twigs! Always being in the way in the worst times!

"Po… Did you see… us?" Viper asked, her embarrassment clearly shown through a blush that dressed her face.

"Well…" Po started, "I… saw it all."

The avian master's eyes widened as he heard this. Viper couldn't do much more than to blush further. Then they did something very unlike them.

"Please don't tell the others!"

"Wha… Why not?" Po asked, so confused that he didn't even know what was happening anymore.

"No one else must know! You can't tell anyone, none of the five or Master Shifu! Please!" Viper pleaded.

"Yes, Plus, It's not good for any master to have relationships! Disadvantage in battle and all…" Crane continued, his panicked expression clearly showing emotions of fright.  
"That's why as little people as possible must know!"  
"Please! We're begging you, Don't tell anyone!"

"Okay okay! I wont tell anyone!" Po said, putting his arms up. Crane and Viper gave out a big revealed sigh.

"Thank you so much Po!" Viper said, smiling a big relieved smile.

"We really owe you one." Crane said smiling. Po blushed.

"Oh, it's alright. Go back to your stargazing," Po said while turning around. He heard how Viper and Crane did the same. Po smiled and started walking back. He wished he had something like that in his life… or someone.

 _ **Ooh… Weird twist huh? Or I wouldn't say twist…**_

 _ ***Neko pops in* HEYO OLIVER TWIST! *Neko pops out***_

 _ **O_O… Ok… We'll say that... Yeaaahh…. As you may see, we are quite tired xD But anywhoo, I hoped that you enjoyed this chapter! it was really fun to make! See ya in tha reviews!**_

 _ **/Colan :3**_


	8. Chapter 6: It doesn't always work

**Ey there, Neko here and I got to say... we weren't really in the mood to write this one. It's mostly filler to be honest, but... Good filler I hope. The beginning is filler at least I guess...? Oh, I don't know! I hope you enjoy anyways! We did our best to serve. /Neko**

 _ **Dreams of Control**_ _  
Chapter Six; It doesn't always work_

Cola Drinking Cats

The morning that came the day after were… uneventful. They got up early, packed all their stuff and briskly picked up some food from a little stall. Since they wanted to get to their next stop on time this time around, they ate while walking. The sun wasn't out as much as it had been the day before. Thin clouds covered the sky instead, mostly covering the sun and the wind had a certain chill to it. The village had been placed in a forest of trees like oak and birch instead of the thick bamboo forests the warriors were used to, so it was a nice change of scenery. The leaves on the trees were gently swaying before falling down on the very path the six warriors were walking on. At the front, Tigress strode. She knew where they were going, so her comrades trusted her to lead the way. Along the route they were taking, there were fallen logs, branches and even a few boulders. Another thing they took notice to was that this was a very common route for Merchants. Every hour they'd meet up with a pig or goose merchant that was dutifully dragging their cart along the road. Some even had children or friends with them. They bought five apples from a very persistent bunny merchant. But this didn't make the warriors relax, quite the opposite. This meant that these trails must also have bandits along them, just like they had noticed the day before, thus they were all on their guard. Anything could be lurking behind those trees or boulders.

But the warriors weren't only watchful, they talked too. Exchanging comments about the environment or sharing their thoughts. Sometimes asking questions and even telling jokes. It kept the morale up as well as the will to carry on.  
After about six hours of walking, Tigress stopped. The warriors behind her too did so. Po looked at her oddly. Why had they stopped? Was something wrong perhaps?

The feline blinked as she looked to a log along the road before facing her comrades and speaking.

"I believe we will take a break here. Lunch." She said, and as she and the others expected, a "Woohoo!" could be heard from the back of the line. Po jumped up, pumping a fist in the air before he started looking for a place to sit that weren't uncomfortable. He found a nice smooth rock on the ground and sat down. The others too saw the stone and decided that it would do well enough, thus they sat down with Po in a circle.. They opened the bag that contained the food they bought from the vendors this morning. In it were bread and veggies. Tigress opened another bag containing the apples they'd gotten from the bunny merchant on the way. The five warriors took one apple each as well as some bread and veggies. Tigress preferred to stick to Tofu when travelling; so she had brought her own with her for lunches. The warriors rested at their stop and started eating as Mantis kicked up a conversation.

"You guys remember that bunny salesman we encountered earlier today?" He asked with a smile. Viper nodded as she swallowed a bite of lettuce.

"He was so nice!" She said cheerfully, smiling. Monkey huffed.

"He didn't have to be so persistent to make us buy the apples." he said as he ate some bread. Crane hummed in agreement. Po suddenly started laughing, his mouth still full of food.

"Yow awl rewmeh eh medand da-"

"Slow down Po and swallow your food!" Monkey laughed at the large bear. Po stopped before listening to the primate and swallowing his large bite of food.

"You all remember that merchant that mistook Tigress for a man?" He said laughing. Tigress glared at him briefly as the others started laughing.

"Yeah! He was all: 'I'm sorry Sir! You know how it is for us men, hard working!'" Mantis said before breaking into another loud laughing session. The striped feline stayed quiet as she shot glares at her comrades, but kept eating her tasteless meal. She remembered that merchant. A pig, green robes and rather tall. He hadn't looked where he was going so he had almost walked straight into the warriors. But they were professionals, so they avoided him. After the pig had noticed it, he stopped and had walked up to Tigress, pardoning himself for one thing but making him guilty for another as he mistook Tigress for a man, which had been awkward to say the least. Tigress herself let her chuckle mentally at it before taking another bite. She'd give them two more minutes to rest and decided to announce it.

"We'll move in two more minutes, so get ready." She said as she took the last bite of her tofu and standing up. The warriors in the circle started eating quicker, Po being the normal old panda and muttering a "Oh come on", but he swallowed his sandwich whole and took a last bite of his apple. This big mouth was good for something more than just talking.

When his meal was finished he put on his backpack so it fit snugly on his back and looked around if something had fallen out. When the area around him was checked he sat down on the rock again and watched the gorgeous scenery around him. The different kind of trees did a little dance as the wind blew through them, their leaves occasionally falling of their branches. As they fell they flew around, like they also were dancing with the wind. But eventually the dance ended and they went to the ground. Po looked at the occasional falling leaves as they danced and he thought of himself. How he couldn't do more than some clumsy dance moves, but he still insisted on doing them even though he knew he was embarrassing himself.

Suddenly he got the urge to dance and stood up from the stone. Everyone looked at him with odd faces, but Po didn't care. He just started dancing, clumsily and awkwardly, just like him. He smiled and danced and smiled some more. Monkey struck a grin and joined in, muttering a 'why not' while laughing wildly. Mantis smiled as he joined in as well, moving about in random ways. Crane and Viper looked at each other and smiled as they started dancing next to each other. Tigress (who was scouting the area) came back to see what was happening. The sight made her eyes go wide.

"What are you doing?" She asked; only confusion written across her face. The five looked in her direction, frightened. But they all kept dancing, somehow.

"Hey Tigress! We're dancing! Wanna join?" Po asked as he did more awkward dance steps. Tigress raised an eyebrow, watching the odd and unsynced movements the "dancers" were making. It looked amusing to say the least, but they didn't have time.

"We have to go." She said sternly. Po ignored this as he laughed as he tripped. But as quickly as he had fallen he stood up and continued his awkward dancing, taking it a bit slower for his foot was still a bit sore from that fight with the bandits.

"Oh come on Tigress! Let us have some fun!" He complained, still moving about. Finally, Tigress gave in and chuckled before smiling, watching her comrades dance.

-{~^^~}-

There had gone a few hours since the spontaneous dancing session. The five 'dancers' was somewhat exhausted, but filled with new energy and almost jumped in their steps. Especially Po. He smiled as he saw the different trees and the small bugs buzzing in them. He looked forward to see Tigress watching him. Not in a mean way, but a more… happy way. But it only lasted for a second before she turned back forward. Pos eyes lingered at her back for a long while, until he as well moved his gaze elsewhere.

The warriors could see the sun starting to move towards the horizon, bringing its light with it. Behind them, darkness started to rise. They would have to stop sooner or later to rest. According to Tigress, there was a small town an hour walk away, and where there's a town, there's an inn.

"Pick up the pace. If I was right then we're close to the town." Tigress said, walking a little faster. The others followed her lead.

It was getting late quickly. The sun were declining gently, but rather fastly; the moon eagerly willing to take its place. The warriors kept joking and talking happily, all of them pretty tired, but pushing on. They joked about the flowers looking funny, the leaves falling weirdly from the tree and even how Crane was walking. They were very… gigglish. Tigress silently thanked any higher power when they arrived, finally glad to be able to get some silence.

The village was a small community; some candles in windows shining brightly. Only a few others were out, packing up their shops and stalls after the day. The inn however, that could be seen in the distance, were still clearly open. Some lanterns were shining outside, their amber flames glowing and lighting up the wood on the inn's walls; as well as the street beneath it. It was a calming sight. The warriors hushed as they approached the large wooden building, all realising how tired they really were. They all walked inside to be greeted by a goose behind the counter, smiling at them.

"Welcome to Lǚxíng Zhě inn! How may I help you?" He asked. His voice was light, cheerful; yet tinted with a slight undertone of exhaustion. Tigress walked up to the counter and quickly said, as if practiced.

"We'd like three rooms please."  
The goose nodded and picked up a scroll and a small stick with ink on it as he checked the list.

"We have 4 rooms free. You want double rooms, right?" He asked. Tigress nodded, her eyes blinking once. The goose quickly checked the list before putting it down.

"That'll be twelve yuan, Ma'am." He said politely. Tigress picked out a small leather pouch from a hidden pocket in her pants before counting and then handing over twelve gold pieces. The goose accepted the coins and pointed down a hall.

"It's the rooms at the end of this hall. Enjoy your stay!" He said with a tired smile. Tigress nodded and the convoy of warriors walked down the walls. It was like they all had a silent agreement as they went in the same pairs as before. Viper and Tigress, Monkey and Mantis, and of course Po and Crane. They all went into their rooms and got to their sleeping positions. Po did, as he had done the night prior, sat into a lotus position and began to meditate. Soon enough, his mind, just as the others, went into a sleeping state.

-{~^^~}-

 _Po woke up to feel a familiar cold ground below him. He couldn't place where he had felt it before though. He groaned as he rolled over, trying to fall asleep again, but to no prevail. He reluctantly opened his emerald green eyes to only be met with red and black scenery._

" _Oh no…" He muttered, his eyes now shot open. He quickly sat up and got on his legs as he unwillingly recognized where he was._

He was in that dream again.  
That nightmare.

He blinked as he frantically looked around only to be greeted by the familiar sights. Charcoal black trees with no leaves, the branches looking like broken bones and crooked arms, a blood red sky with a moon displaying an orchestra of rich red colours as it shone and a dull grey ground. It looked as it once had had grass laying across it, but it looked burnt and wrong, scarred in a way. He kept spinning around. It didn't feel… right. It felt like something was terribly wrong. It wasn't like the dreams he had before. This was much… colder. To his dismay, the familiar voice echoed out, reminding him that he was not alone.

" _ **Welcome back."**_ _It spoke, the tone it had teasing and deep. Alluring maybe. He turned around but just as many times before, he found nothing behind him. Po started to panic. He hadn't gone to sleep like normal! He had used the sleeping technique Tigress showed him. This shouldn't have happened._

" _What do you want with me!?" He yelled out, frustrated. The voice chuckled, its tone and distinct tone echoing across the landscape._

" _ **Was the riddle not enough of a clue?"**_ _It asked, again in a teasing, almost mocking tone. Po furrowed his brow, a small feeling of anger sprouting in his chest._

" _What if it wasn't!?" He asked back. He had given up trying to look for the voice. He knew that he wouldn't be able to find, or even see him. He stood up in a defensive position, his left arm slightly behind him and his right arm in front of him with his paw formed into a fist._

" _ **Then that is too bad because I can not say anything more."**_ _It spoke, nonchalantly. What was this… entity's deal? He couldn't tell, that was for sure. Po didn't even know why he was here, how he was here or if he was here. What if all of this was just a surreal illusion? Just a joke or a trial? It seemed a bit cruel for that, didn't it?_

Po sighed as he looked up into the sky, saying the only thing that he could think of.

" _Can you not pick on somebody your own size?" He asked. It laughed loudly this time, the voice banging on Po's head. He flinched but reminded himself to say strong. Don't falter. It would serve no good._

" _ **Oh, I am much closer to your size than you think."**_ _It said in an amused tone. Again, like times before, the world began spinning. Po closed his eyes and sat down while covering his head. He could only hear rustling and rumbling as the world around him was torn apart. The sky itself ripping, the trees being pulled from out of the ground, their roots tearing apart form the force, the stone cracking. Then, silence._

-{~^^~}-

Po's eyes shot open as he finally exited the dream world. But… Confusion quickly entered his head. His brow furrowed as he found himself… on a roof…? The large bear quickly looked around himself. It was in the middle of the night. The moon was on its peak and only a few thin clouds blocked the array of stars. He glanced downwards to see where this roof was located. It was surrounded by small houses, a village. He realized that he was on the roof of the inn, its wooden roof much higher than the roof of the other buildings. He had gone to sleep just mere hours ago in his room. How? How had he gotten up here?

Suddenly he could feel his blood freeze as a voice spoke up behind him.

"What are you doing here?"

 **Okay, yeah I lied it wasn't filler. Not at all. Mwuahahahahahah! Oh well, I hope you enjoy. What do you think will happen with Po? Who is behind him? WHO IS THE MYSTERIOUS VOICE AND WHAT DOES IT WANT WITH HIM?!  
** **Find out more the more ya read. Cheers! /Neko**


	9. Chapter 7: For better or worse

**Hiya all! We're so sorry (and by so sorry, I mean that we're REALLY ******* SORRY!). First we were hit by network issues and after that Neko got one of the worst colds** _ **ever**_ **. But alas, excuses only gets us so far. We're here now, aren't we? And oh… sweet delicious suspense… Have I stalled you for long enough? I think I have. We hope ya like this chapter! /Colan :3**

 _ **Dreams of Control**_ _  
Chapter Seven; For better or worse_

Cola Drinking Cats

The building was made of sand beige stone with a roof of red oak wood. The midnight-blue sky gave it a soft look, almost dreamlike. Po began to panic. What was he doing here? How did he get here?!

"What are you doing?" The voice rang out in Po's ears. It was a... Familiar voice. A very familiar one at that. It almost sounded like...

"Hi… Tigress…" Po started and turned around just to be met by a hard gaze by an annoyed, striped feline.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, her voice cold. There was something else though… Maybe concern?

Tigress had locked her eyes on Po. There was no escape without either being held down til he told her, or just telling her right away. Po opened his mouth, trying to get some words out, as he looked around himself frantically. He honestly didn't have a single clue. What was he supposed to say? He didn't know why he was here at all! He locked eyes with Tigress as he started speaking.

"I… I-I don't know!" He said, his voice shaking. He was filled with paranoia. Why didn't the meditation work?! It had worked before! Did he do something wrong maybe? No… he did everything like Tigress showed him. His thoughts went back and forth and amidst the chaos in his head, he sat down, waddling back and forth. The thoughts rampaged in his head. He didn't hear that Tigress called out for him. Or the fact that she came closer.

"Po?" Tigress called out again. It didn't reach him this time either. She sat down in front of him, trying to look into his eyes. She felt how her stomach turned with concern. Seeing her friend like this was horrible, even worse than thinking he died back in Gongmen. She felt powerless for a second before finally speaking up.

"Po? Do you hear me?" She tried again, but to no avail. He was completely unreachable. Tigress felt how her heart skipped a beat. What was happening? It worried her. She hadn't seen him like this before. It really worried her. She couldn't hide her concern any longer. She dressed her face with concern as she brought up her paw to his shoulder and gently let it rest on it. She shook his shoulder gently with her paw, making Po finally look up. She shook again just to assure Po was listening.

Awoken from the war of thoughts, he first glanced to the paw, and then to Tigress herself. As his eyes met hers and for the first time that evening, he saw how worried she really was for him. He sighed as he started to calm down, though his paranoia was still pounding hard in his head.

"Po, what happened?" She asked, her normally stern voice, soft and gentle. The large bear sighed once again as he started to go through what had happened in his head. He had used the meditation technique like normal to go to sleep. But, somehow, he still ended up in a dream. Then there was the fact that he ended up on the roof when he woke up for some reason. This was all too much. Po felt how he started shaking.

"I… I don't know. I did the meditating yet I still ended up in one of those dreams, and when I woke up I was up here…" He explained, his voice shaking. His eyes shone with fright, which Tigress quickly picked up. She looked down, averting her eyes from his as she began thinking through what he had said. There must be an explanation. Anything. A disorder, panic, poisoning... but none of those fit in.

"We will have to figure this out later. There isn't time now." She said, her eyes still not looking at Po's. She began to stand, only to be dragged down again.

"Po…" Tigress began as she met the pandas gaze. As their gazes met she saw tears in his emerald green eyes. The tears made their way down Po's round face, dripping at his chin. Tigress froze. What could she do? Could she even do anything? She tried thinking of a solution, but couldn't find one. Her thoughts went in a blurr. This was just… terrible.

As her mind tried to find a solution, tried to think of some kind of answer to this, she felt how something soft and fluffy came in contact with her. She was pulled out of her thoughts as she stared at Po, his big body hugging onto her. Sniffles could be heard from his head who was lying onto Tigress' shoulder. As her tunic became darker from the liquid of tears, she felt how Po was shaking. The sniffles turned to sobs and Tigress froze once again.

"How… how… how..." She barely made out in between the sobs.

Po knew that he would get a big slap from Tigress, but he didn't care. He was too afraid to care, too terrified of how this awful voice could control him. Could… could monitor him. His thoughts were racing. Everything felt surreal.

Then, he felt something soft touch his back. He jumped and looked up. A pair of orange, white and black-striped arms was embracing him. He felt warm inside and he felt how his cheeks became hotter. He used his limited sense of vision and tried to get a glance of Tigress' face. It was turned away from him, placed on his shoulder. He felt warm and fuzzy, but he also felt the tears pushing and he felt how the sobs were stuck in his throat, waiting to come out. His thoughts went as quick as bullets in a big war of thoughts. Amidst this war of thoughts he felt how his throat burned more and more, how his eyes felt more irritated than ever and how his tears made their way down, like floods wanting to flow to the ocean. He felt the warmth from Tigress, how nice it felt to be able to finally show how he felt about this situation… He turned his head down toward her shoulder, laying it down like it had before. He felt the sobs coming and he hugged Tigress tighter, letting it all out.

There he sat, for what it felt like hours, crying in the arms of a severely concerned Tigress.

-{~^-^~}-

After the sobbing party, Tigress had brought Po back to his room, just to be safe that the controlling wasn't coming back. She was going to think of something to do. They were on a mission, which didn't help, and they couldn't go back. And he needed to sleep to stay strong. Maybe they should just… send someone back to the palace? One of them, like Crane. They could survive without one of them, right? She had to think some more about this. The morning, she would have to think of something before it came. She and Po could go out and refill their food before they continued their mission.

-{~^-^~}-

In the morning Tigress went into the room where Po and Crane stayed. Since it was about five in the morning, the other four were still sleeping.

Tigress entered the room and saw Po sitting in the corner, hugging his pillow. He looked tired, but otherwise he had no traces of sickness or similar. His foot was better as well, so well in fact that he could now run without limping. Crane did some noises as the door creaked open, but he was still asleep. Po looked up at Tigress and stood up.

"It's our turn to restock. Come on." Tigress whispered and started to walk out the door. She heard footsteps behind her and she took a quick glance back. Po was quietly making his way toward the door to not wake up Crane. He tip-toed carefully across the wooden boards that were, in fact, less noise-making than the boards in the barracks. When he reached the door, he slipped out of the room and closed it carefully. He hadn't been this silent in a long time. Tigress, quick as she was, were waiting at the entrance of the inn. Po quickly sped up, seeing Tigress leaning against the door. As she spotted him she stood straight, turned around and opened the wooden doors, revealing small drops of rain flying through the air, eventually hitting the ground. The sun was covered by dark gray clouds.

"It isn't the best weather…" Tigress said, trying to smile. She tried to cheer Po up, tried to make him his usual self again, but she was met with a tired nod as Po made his way out. His feet dragged beneath him, making him walk a bit slower than normal, but still fast enough to not waste time. Tigress followed him out into the rain, walking by his side.

"Anyway. I didn't take you out to refill just to buy food. I have a plan, but I need your permission to see it through." Tigress said, looking at Po. His head turned toward her direction. He didn't say anything, but ushered her to continue. "I need you to listen to me. I think we need to send someone back to the palace to get in contact with Master Shifu about the dreams."

Po's eyes went wide, but Tigress continued.

"And I think we should send Crane back. He is a quick flyer and would get back to the palace in no time."

"Nope." Po said, his eyes and voice as cold as new winter's snow. Tigress was surprised by his tone, but quickly brushed it off. She sighed as she walked up in front of the panda, halting him in his steps. Po's face looked confused for a second before she started to speak.

"Po, this is serious. We need you to be in your top condition, and that won't happen if you keep having these dreams. Haven't you considered that Master Shifu may know anything that could help you?" She asked, concern in her eyes, as well as light annoyance caused by his stubbornness. Po sighed.

"No… But I still don't want to tell them or Shifu." He said. Tigress sighed as she looked at him.

"Po, I'm concerned for your well being. You have to tell them at one point or another, so why not now? What if it worsens and we won't be able to turn back? It's better to tell everyone now and get as minor consequences as possible. " She argued. Po looked down on the ground. He couldn't; they'd all be worried, just like Tigress is right now… just like she has been. And if Tigress acts like this, imagine the others…

"I'm sorry Tigress but… I can't." He said. He almost regretted those words. It would be relieving to tell the others, but he couldn't.

Tigress blinked as she looked downwards in slight disappointment.

"As you wish then." She said before stepping aside and continuing to walking. The two warriors picked up their food and refreshments in silence, neither knowing what to say.

The silence wasn't broken during the rest of the trip. Even though both parts clearly wanted it gone, they didn't know what to say. Tigress thought about what could be done without contacting anyone of the five, without major consequences and without Master Shifu.

Po thought about the possible consequences of not telling anyone. He didn't want to bother anyone, but these dreams is getting out of control. Should he risk it? Risk getting the looks of pity that he hate, or should he just keep it as it is now? Not tell anyone and risk getting worse? His thoughts were a blur. He didn't know what to think anymore. After yesterday's.., whatever that was, he doesn't know what to think at all. Po couldn't be bothered anymore. He decided that he will keep things as they are now.

" _We'll eventually see if it was the right decision or not,"_ he thought to himself " _for better or worse."_

-{~^-^~}-

When the two warriors had returned they woke up the other four and went on their way towards the hidden village. There were few words exchanged during the first hours of running. Po was especially quiet.

"Hey, Po… How're you doing?" Monkey wondered carefully. His voice was coated with a thick layer of concern and his eyes were sporting the same emotion. Po couldn't stand it.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Po said, speeding up so he wouldn't have to look Monkey in the eyes. Monkey glanced at Crane who had seen the small exchange. Crane could do nothing more but shrug. They all knew something was up with Po, and Tigress had also begun to act a bit… off. Crane couldn't put his finger at it, but something was up. He signaled Viper and she quickly sped up to catch up with Tigress.

"Tigress, is something go-" Viper said before she flew up in the air. She let out a loud screech.

"Viper!" Crane let out and attempted to fly to her rescue, but mid-air he was shot to the side by what looked like some kind of net. The others could hear him scream for help, but then... nothing. The last four remaining warriors halted. What was going on?

"Everyone, back-to-back!" Tigress shouted and the remaining four got into their stances, their backs against each others. They were on the alert, everyone looking from side to side.

A masked individual jumped out a big distance ahead of them. Then another one. And yet another one. The amount of masked and cloaked beings increased until there were as much as twenty of them. They stood there, waiting for the remaining four warriors to make a move.

"What the noodle dump is going on!?" Po let out, falling on his knees. He felt his anger build up more and more.

"Pull yourself together Po! If we're going to get Crane and Viper back we _have_ to keep our heads on our shoulders!"

"Erhm.. That might be hard Tigress…" Monkey spoke up, pointing toward his front where another twenty men stood in their way.

"This will be a long day…" Po sighed as he stood up. "A long day indeed."

 **Again, we're sorry that it took so frigging long. We are actually very ashamed ._.**

 **Anyway, I hope that the chapter was worth the wait! And if you have any questions, and so on and so forth, tell us in the reviews! We do read all of them and we're really happy that you all like this fic :3 Anyway, have a great continuation of your day and we'll see you in the reviews!**

 **/Colan :3**


End file.
